YORK City boss Sam Collins has warned the club’s senior players that there are more talented teenagers waiting in the wings hoping to take their places.

Collins has given youth-team pair Fergus McAughtrie and Nathan Dyer their first-team debuts since taking over as manager from Martin Gray in mid-August.

The latter, at the age of 17, has been preferred to The Press Player of the Year leader Kallum Griffiths during the last two matches – victories against St Ives Town (3-0) and Southport (2-1) – with Collins, who started the campaign as the Minstermen’s under-19 coach, admitting he has earmarked another two potential youth-team graduates.

Collins was impressed by the pair during a 3-2 behind-closed-doors reserve defeat at Doncaster this week, declaring: “A couple of the first-year scholars did really, really well in the game, which is good from my point of view.

“They are not a million miles away, so the pros have to be conscious of that because, if they look ready, I will put them in. I really like the challenge of working with young players and improving them mentally and physically.

“When I was under-19s coach, I told them my job was to get them in the first team and, now I’m first-team manager, I still want to get them into the side.”

Collins added, however, that he was also pleased with the performances of his senior players against a Doncaster team that boasted League One professionals like Alfie Beestin, Issam Ben Khemis, Mitchell Lund and Will Longbottom.

Veteran forward Jon Parkin scored and hit the bar from the halfway line, with Dan Parslow, Wes York and Alex Kempster also featuring and Collins added: “We were 2-0 up and looked really comfortable but, then, the goals we gave away were poor.

“The bigger picture, though, was that our senior players got minutes under their belt, and it was a really useful exercise, because some of the lads hadn’t had a game for about a month, so it seemed a good time to fit one in.

“Wes York did really well and Jon Parkin played for an hour, got a goal and looked really fresh. There were some really strong performances and they’ve given me a headache again this weekend and I want that.

“When you’re not playing in the team and we arrange a game, you’ve got to go about it the right way in terms of your attitude, enthusiasm and commitment. All that has to be there.”